It's not the vaccines that are the problem, it's the mercury-containing thimerosal. There's a reason why autism, ADHD and Turret's syndrome are skyrocketing. Now I'm well aware of research showing no link between vaccines and autism but Big Pharma (ever hear of Merck?) has a venerable history of statistical cheery-picking the studies it funds. The children who get harmed are those who, for genetic or developmental reasons, do not excrete mercury well (impaired glutathione synthesis most likely). Prepubescent boys seem to be most at risk. When an immature nervous system gets bombarded with too much mercury which it can't excrete...voila, another case of autism. Vaccines can be life-saving...we just need to find a way to preserve them without mercury and/or aluminum.

Gee, the African National Congress wouldn't know anything about apartheid, would they? Then again, that was Mandela's party. Perhaps we should at least listen to what they have to say.

Why get so excited when some one tells the obvious truth. Of course the Gaza blockade and war lead to increased anti-Semitism and of course anti-Semitism is always wrong (just like anti-Palestinianism). So we're left with:
1. Anti-Semitism....WRONG
2. Israel's policies...WRONG

So where's the controversy? Don't cry foul when some one states the obvious truth...it makes one look silly.

The author totally missis the most important point...it's the Occupation! The West Bank Palestinians live in an Israeli-administered apartheid state. Most Gazans are descendants of Palestinians who were ethnically cleansed from southern Israel in the '48 war. Gaza is under a seemingly permanent total blockade (air, sea and land...an act of war). And Israel wants the Gazans to stop firing their puny "rockets" and return to the status quo. Now that's chutzpah!
If Israel wants to join the ranks of civilized industrial nations it has 2 choices: Remove all the settlements (colonies), allow passage between the WB and Gaza and sign a treaty using the Green Line as the border or it can create a binational state with equal rights for all who live within the borders that Israel controls. Palestinians, btw, must be accorded the same right of return that Jews possess. Israel's refusal in '48 to allow Palestinian civilians to return to their land and homes was and is pure (religious) racism. It will never be acceptable behavior and that's why Israel is not respected by so many justice-minded people through out the world (including an ever increasing number of Jews themselves). We must never forget that justice is more important than ethnic/religious allegiance (even to Israel)!

The issue is not Abbas, it's Israeli discriminatory and exclusionary policies based on religion. This has led to massive and continuing ethnic cleansing, stolen land and resources and a purposeful dehumanization of Palestinians in order to deflect attention away from the violations of international law. As I write, the West Bank is still administered as an apartheid state, native non-Jewish Jerusalemites are still being pushed out and the status quo in Gaza that Israel wants as the end result of a cease fire is still a blockade of Gaza's land, sea and air space (a perpetual act of war). It all goes back to the notion that it's ok to get rid of the Palestinians so that Israel can be the "Jewish" state instead of a state safe for Jews and its other citizens. Being a "Jewish" state disenfranchises 20% of the population. How would we like it if America were officially the "Christian" state. See the problem? Israel has always been the Jewish homeland but it's also always been the Palestinian homeland. The notion of Jewish special privilege (it's our land and we're entitled to get rid of them) is the original sin still driving this conflict. That's why more Jews every day are coming to the conclusion that BDS is the only thing that can save Israel because it's the only thing that can force Israel to end its discrimination against all the non-Jews who live within the borders that Israel controls (al of I/P).

Actually, JVP has plenty of credibility with those who place justice ahead of ethnic/religious allegiance. The JVP folks are like the southern whites in the 60's who fought against segregation...they too put justice ahead of, in this case, racial allegiance. Forty years from now they'll be the heroes.

East Jerusalem was illegally annexed by Israel. Unless these folks were born in West Jerusalem, their country of origin is Palestine.

You are right and that's the problem.

At last a sane post. Thank you!

Ms. Scheindlin has written an intelligent article with a mature perspective. I encourage the above posters to broaden their minds and to understand that there are other people in the world who aren't Jewish and that they deserve justice too. A pattern of ethnic cleansing and perpetual bondage is not justice and it has fostered a mentality of Jewish exceptionalism which treats non-Jews with disdain. Apparently Jefferson's words need to be modified to apply to Israel's more rabid supporters..."All men (people) are created equal except for the Palestinians whose land we covet". It's a mentality that will eventually lead to Israel's demise and cause untold tsuris for Jews everywhere (including myself, of course). Oh, and did I mention that it's unfair to a group of people called the Palestinians (you know, those other folks who share the land with us)?